Central Reserve Police Force

CRPF Full Form in English, letter by letter

CRPF is the Central Reserve Police Force, India's largest central armed police force, under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

CRPF Full Form in Indian Languages

On a convoy road in Kashmir, at a polling booth in Bastar or outside a riot-hit locality, the uniform you meet is often the CRPF, the Central Reserve Police Force. Its name is given below in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Gujarati.

A central force with a state-level job

The Central Reserve Police Force is one of the central armed police forces (CAPFs) run by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is the largest of them, with well over three lakh personnel in more than 240 battalions, and its headquarters are in New Delhi.

Law and order is a state subject under the Constitution, so a state cannot simply call in the army. It asks the Centre for CRPF companies instead. That is the idea behind the word Reserve: a pool of trained, armed police that the Union government can send wherever the local force is stretched, from an election in one state to a communal flare-up in another.

The CRPF has also served abroad. An all-women formed police unit from the CRPF served with the United Nations mission in Liberia from 2007, and CRPF personnel have been part of other UN deployments.

From the Crown Representative's Police to 1949

The force was raised on 27 July 1939 as the Crown Representative's Police, a small body meant to keep order in the princely states during the unrest of the late colonial years. After independence it was renamed the Central Reserve Police Force, and the CRPF Act of 1949 gave it its present legal form.

Its early tasks were integration-era duties: guarding against disorder in the new Union and helping with the movement of refugees. In 1965 a CRPF detachment held Sardar Post in the Rann of Kutch against a Pakistani attack, and 9 April is still observed inside the force as Valour Day.

In 1986 it raised the first women's battalion among the central forces, and later set up the Rapid Action Force (October 1992) and the COBRA battalions (from 2008). Each of these was a response to a specific problem: riot control and jungle warfare.

Kashmir, Naxal districts and polling duty

In Jammu and Kashmir the CRPF does area domination, convoy protection, guarding of installations and counter-insurgency work alongside the Army and the state police. On 14 February 2019 a CRPF convoy was hit by a suicide bomber at Pulwama, killing 40 personnel, and the attack shaped national security debate for months.

In districts affected by left-wing extremism, such as parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, the CRPF carries much of the burden. Its COBRA units (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) are trained for jungle operations and have been used in those forests.

The Rapid Action Force, with its protective gear and non-lethal equipment, is the wing that goes in for riots and communal tension. At election time CRPF companies are spread across states to guard polling booths and strongrooms, and every year it helps secure the Amarnath Yatra.

It also guards some protected persons and sensitive sites, which is where it overlaps with VIP security duties normally handled by the NSG and state police.

How people get into the CRPF

Officers join as Assistant Commandants through the UPSC Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) examination: a written exam, physical standards and tests, a medical and an interview.

Sub-Inspectors are recruited through the SSC Central Police Organisation examination, which needs a graduation degree. Constables (General Duty) are recruited through the SSC's constable examination, with a physical efficiency and standards test and medical examination, and the minimum qualification is class 10. Tradesmen posts such as cook, barber and driver are filled by the force itself through separate notifications.

Read the notification on the force's recruitment page before you pay any fee: dates, age limits, relaxation for categories and physical standards change from cycle to cycle, and agents who promise a seat are a common scam.

Service means postings far from home, long stretches in field areas and limited leave. In return come central government pay, free medical care, family accommodation at larger stations and a pension structure that has changed over the years, so check the current terms.

CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP and the Army compared

The BSF guards the borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. The ITBP holds the high Himalayan frontier with China. The CISF protects airports, ports, power plants, the Delhi Metro and other installations. The CRPF is the internal-security force, deployed inside the country.

The Army works under the Ministry of Defence and is meant for external threats, though it is called in aid of the civil power in extreme cases. CAPFs follow police-style procedure in their dealings with the public, which is why a CRPF check post feels different from a military one.

The ranks reflect that police tradition: constable, head constable, assistant sub-inspector, sub-inspector, inspector, then Assistant Commandant, Deputy Commandant, Second-in-Command and Commandant for a battalion. The top of the force is a Director General, an IPS officer.

For most Indians the CRPF is the central force they will actually see at a polling booth, a checkpoint or a convoy. Knowing the full form also explains why it appears wherever a state asks for reserves rather than the Army.

CRPF Full Form: Common Questions